Nothing beats being able to see a major franchise film during its opening weekend for FREE! W00T for movie passes! I was honestly surprised that they accepted it. Normally for new releases theatres won’t allow you to redeem the passes. The film itself was pretty good, I gotta say! I honestly felt like they stayed true to the book aside from a couple of major plot points****SPOILER****primarily that the dead tributes were those beasts at the end, and wasn’t Peeta supposed to lose his leg? Or was that after the second one? ****/SPOILER**** . I read all three books back to back in 3 days so some things kind of blend together for me, but the first book was definitely the best one. I sort of wish there was more carnage, but they were very obviously aiming for a PG-13 rating so that they could make an insane amount of money. It’s interesting to me how the books are YA, but if they showed a little more gore like how I imagined it when reading the books, the film would have likely been bumped to rated R. Did anyone else get to see it this weekend? I know that other countries have a different ratings system. I’m curious about that.
Yes Peeta lost his leg in the first book – that irked me!! The fight scene with Cato at the end wasn’t nearly as intense as the book…like you said I understand it had to stay PG13 but still. The mutts not being the dead tributes bothered me too, because I think the movie made the Capitol seem too nice.
I did a full review for the movie on my blog if you want to see my thoughts!
Jessi @ Auntie Spinelli Reads
Thanks, Geo! I commented.
I still need to read the books and watch the movie. I think it will be interesting to watch the movie first. See if it makes a difference. I am buying the books this week.
I’m curious for you to be the guinea pig and do that, lol
I need to reread the books, but I too thought it needed more gore. Not to the point where it got campy but I would’ve liked to see everything taken further. I imagined District 12 more like a city with high rise apartments for the miners and suburbs for families like Peeta’s but with that gray dismal feel not some rural West Virginia town like they had. I don’t think they took things far enough with the sets or costumes. Plus they left out my favorite story of Peeta falling in love with Katniss when his dad pointed her out and talked about her mom and dad and her singing, which is probably because the lead actress had no singing skills. I also felt confused about what happened in each book since Peeta left with his leg. I liked the movie and can live with some of the changes but felt like they weren’t as fearless in filmmaking as Collins was in her writing.
I also noticed the lead actress had no singing skills. But I liked watching Katniss and Peeta interact on the big screen. I honestly wasn’t really on either “Team” when it comes to the romance in this series; I saw both sides, but that doesn’t work for everyone (I had a little falling out with a couple of people because of it, lol). But yeah, it all comes down the restraints. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wouldn’t have been nearly as awesome if it were PG-13.
I usually pick one love interest over another, but I wouldn’t loose a friend over it. I am more likely to take out my frustrations on the books and just stop reading them. Endless love triangles annoy me in series with double digit installments.
LOL A PG-13 Girl with a Dragon Tattoo movie would’ve been silent, with the characters of Mikeal and Lisbeth written out of the script. My dad was telling me that he didn’t understand what was going on and about to turn it off until Lisbeth tasered the guy. Both my parents loved it when she tattooed him and the end when she hit him with the golf club and his teeth went flying. It sounds horrible, but then again its out of context. In context it works and is polarizing. Something The Hunger Games missed out on a bit from trying to be more conventional.
Yeah, same. I didn’t think it was worth it but I was literally being ganged up not for not being anti-Gale, even though I wasn’t anti-Peeta, lol. I got a little snippy about it so maybe that’s why.
A PG-13 Dragon Tattoo would be silent and blacked out a lot of times, lol.
It occurred to me while I was watching the movie that it would’ve never worked with Gale, because if he was in the arena with Katniss they would’ve been allies, but unlike Peeta, Gale wouldn’t let her win. He’d turn on her and fight to live where Peeta would have laid down his life.
Regardless I’m not anti-Gale, I don’t think he was that bad. Just not as good as Peeta. Can’t believe you got ganged up on for that. It always surprises me how personal people can be about these characters. At least you formed your non opinion by actually reading and watching the series. One of my pet peeves is when people form an opinion or an argument without actually experiencing the topic.
Yeah. I am not a fan of Twilight but at least I read all 4 books so I can genuinely whine about it.
I haven’t seen The Hunger Games yet, but I’m glad to see it’s gettings pretty good ratings. I read the books quite a while ago, so I may miss some of in inconsistencies. I’m hoping to get to see it tonight or tomorrow.
Honestly, I didn’t love Gale or Peeta. If I remember correctly near the end, Gale was a bit of an ass. Peeta was always so nice and had Katniss’s best interests at heart, but his character felt a little bland to me. I liked both, but didn’t love either of them.
I agree about The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. That would have been a completely different movie had it been PG-13. I have all the books, but haven’t gotten to them yet. I hear the first was is a bit difficult to get into. I loved the movie though!
I hope the movie version of Darkfever is dark and gritty like the books. I would imagine it would be rated R due to language at least.
Erika, in the video you posted with Kim, is your hair in braids or twists? It looks awesome! Anyway, love your Blog.
I read it a while ago and in a day, so I know I may have missed a couple of things, but I definitely caught those two major things. Let me know how you like it.
I’m with you on the love triangle thing and the characters. Peeta is more bland for sure which made him less interesting to me.
I’m just going to stick with the movies for Dragon Tattoo. I plan to eventually just watch the Swedish films and call it a day.
I keep forgetting that there is supposed to be a Fever movie. How’s the progress on that looking? Any casting yet. If Mac or Barrons sucks then it’s easily DOA for me. If Fever starts out PG-13 the later books will HAVE to be R. So they should save themselves the trouble and just make it R, but who knows what they’ll decide.
My hair in the video with Kim is in Senegalese twists. I’m taking them out in a few days to do it aaaall over again on Saturday. 7-8 hours of fun fun FUN just sitting in a chair! I’m of course only kidding. I feel worse for my beautician. But thanks!!
I haven’t heard any news on the Fever movie yet. I agree they need to make the first one R, so parents won’t scream about the following films being too graphic for their teens.
Senegalese Twists? Wow, never knew what they were called, but I always liked they way they looked in photos. I had micro-braids about 9 yrs ago maybe. I loved they way they looked, but I think I sat for an average of 13hrs. I tried dreads about 5 years ago, and no thanks – not for me. My hair would velcro to everything lol.
There is enough content for it to be an R. Definitely violence wise.
I never knew what they were called either until I had to youtube how to do them when a couple of mine started to unravel and I wanted to fix it myself. Instead of burning the ends she just braids chunks of the hair in sections and then boils the ends and then unravels it. That gives it the crimp. And it helps to decrease “velcroing” lol. I love the twists because they are easier to take out than the braids. I applaud anyone who is willing to do micro. I did it once when I was 13 and never will do it again. How it is now works just fine!
I have not read the books yet, so I have stayed away from the theaters on this one. Want to read the book first. The movie looks really good!